“A Simple Queen Rearing Technique for the Hobbyist Beekeeper” Michael Mott

Contents Stimulating Rearing Preferred Conditions Beekeepers & Grafting Blind Mans Grafting The Queenless Nuke The Pollen Frame The Queen Frame Preparing the Nukes Queen Gear Questions Credits

Stimulating Queen Rearing Overcrowding Implies a nectar flow Nectar is being stored in the brood nest No empty cells for the queen to lay in Emergency Response There’s no Queen!! Workers raise queens from eggs or larvae

Preferred Conditions for Raising Queens A healthy hive – don’t propagate diseases Good hive disposition Not aggressive They’re your responsibility Survive Alaska winters Lots of young bees and capped brood Eggs or queen cells Food and/or strong nectar & pollen flow Reasonably warm temperatures Drones

Why Beekeepers Don’t Like Grafting It’s hard to see the larvae and the eggs. If we flip the larvae over they drown. They must be less then 3 days old. Larvae dry out quickly. There are too many little parts and pieces! I only need 5 queens, not 50!

Blind Mans Grafting – The Queenless Nuke Place the queenless nuke where you want to raise your queens. Place stores in the nuke, 1 frame of pollen and 2 frames of nectar. (Leave the bees on the frames. Make your own pollen frame.) Place a frame of sealed brood in the nuke. (For Nurse Bees) Shake bees into the nuke. It should look overcrowded. Remember some of the bees are older and will return to the parent hive/s. NECTAR NECTAR POLLEN SEALED BROOD THIS NUKE MUST BE QUEENLESS. If you miss a queen she will kill all the queen cells or the hive will swarm.

Blind Mans Grafting - The Pollen Frame Make your own. Select a frame of empty comb. Pour pollen onto the face of the comb and work it in with your hands.

Blind Mans Grafting - The Queen Frame Find a frame of eggs in the donor hive. It must be foundationless. Brush off the bees; do not shake them off. Cut 1-inch wide strips containing eggs from this foundation. Use thumb tacks to attach the strip to the queen frame, with cell openings facing down.

Blind Mans Grafting - The Queen Frame Insert queen frame into nuke between pollen and nectar frame. SEALED BROOD NECTAR QUEEN FRAME POLLEN NECTAR Close the hive. 10 days later pull the queen frame and count the number of queen cells. Place it back in the hive.

Preparing the Nukes Prepare the needed number of nukes to receive the queen cells. Make sure there are bees, pollen, and nectar in each nuke. Make as many nukes as your resources allow. No eggs or larvae should be placed in the nukes. Sealed brood is ok. Why? Remove the queen frame and cut out one or two queen cells. Place the ripe queen cell/s in the nuke. Special notes about queen cells: Handle them with care. Keep them warm. Remove them from the parent hive as you need them. Use the excess wax above the cell to suspend them in the new hive.

Preparing the Nukes (cont) After a month open each nuke and quickly examine them for eggs and larvae. Don’t give up if you don’t find anything initially. How is the hive behaving? They will tell you if they are queenless. Do they have stores? Are they calm, foraging, “normal”? The queen is probably fine. Remember she is very tough to spot until her ovaries and abdomen swell from laying. If the population is getting too low, add some sealed brood. When you find eggs, monitor the hive and feed them as needed. Don’t open the hive excessively! Wait at least a month and a half before giving up. If the new hive fails, combine it with another. Don’t waste the resources! (use the Newspaper Technique)

Practical Suggestions on Queen Gear Don’t go out and buy a bunch of stuff. You can raise queens without all the plastic do-dads. Augment the gear you have to suit your needs and save some money. Standardize your frames.

Questions Is this a bad thing to find in your hive?

Credit and Resources Thank You 1) The Fat Bee Man – Video - Very Easy Queen Making 2) Jay Smith – Better Queens (Available from Bush Farms Website) 3) Michael Palmer – Video – The Sustainable Apiary Thank You